Green Ink: A Republican Energy Plan

Crude oil futures jumped over $71 a barrel ahead of an expected decline in U.S. inventories and thanks to a weaker dollar, Bloomberg reports. Oh, and OPEC has a new trigger for jumpstarting production–$100 a barrel, also in Bloomberg.

So is this oil shock 2.5? The big difference with last year, Geoff Styles says, is that the world’s demand seems to have a built-in governor, which could prevent a runaway price spike.

The Senate wants to make sure—it passed a measure that would open up parts of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to more oil and gas drilling, in the WSJ. You might think there’s a natural-gas glut, but the industry warns that new water rules imperil natural-gas investment, also in the WSJ.

Did the climate bill get upstaged by health care reform? A year ago, energy was priority number one for President Obama. Now, it’s not so clear, writes David Roberts, who sets out to handicap the summer lawmaking season, at Grist.

The GOP has an energy plan, the NYT reports: Republican lawmakers will introduce legislation today calling for a massive expansion of nuclear power, more oil and gas exploration—even in ANWR—and no mention of caps on greenhouse-gas emissions. Climate change policy is bipartisan in Texas: Everybody hates it, starting with Gov. Rick Perry, in the WSJ.